America sanctioned the former Speaker of the Afghan Parliament

According to the regional office Tasnim news agency, Ministry of Treasury The United States announced that it has sanctioned Mir Rahman Rahmani, the former speaker of the Afghan parliament, and his son Ajmal Rahmani, a former member of the parliament, and 44 companies and institutions related to them because of their extensive role in “cross-border corruption”.

In the announcement of this ministry, it is stated that the Rahmanis, through their companies in Afghanistan, launched a complex financial corruption scheme that led to the embezzlement of millions of dollars from US government contracts supporting the security forces of the former Afghan government.

The ministry added that the Rahmanis are facing charges of fraud in contracts for the former security forces of Afghanistan, artificially increasing the price of oil, and importing and selling tax-free fuel.

According to the announcement of the US Treasury Department, after entering the Afghan parliament, the Rahmanis used their official positions to continue their corruption system.

contractual inflation
The US Treasury Department added that Mirrahman Rahmani and Ajmal Rahmani used their hidden control over many companies and offered to obtain fuel contracts through many companies, and thus the price of the contracts

The ministry added that in 2014, for example, several families involved in the fuel business, including the Rahmanis, to increase fuel contracts with US funding. colluded and increased it by 200 million dollars and eliminated competitors in this way.

Fraud in import tax
In the announcement of the US Treasury Department, it is stated that the Afghan Customs Department had given the importers of fuel and goods for the NATO, American and Afghan forces a “tax-exempt” letter, and the contracts with this letter could import a “limited amount” of goods without tax.

The ministry has added that the representatives of Rahmani fuel company repeatedly bribed the Afghan customs officials with cash in order to receive more tax exemption letters.

In one case, Ajmal Rahmani received a tax-free letter for more than twice the fuel limit for a given delivery, according to the US Treasury Department announcement.

The declaration states that in 2017 and 2018, one of Rahmani’s companies imported almost one billion liters of fuel into Afghanistan, while only a small portion of the fuel was contracted for the Afghan security forces.

The ministry added that this amount of fuel was more than the total annual fuel consumption of the Afghan security forces, which was estimated at 400 million liters.

The US Department of Treasury has said that after the cancellation of the contract of one of Rahmani’s companies to provide aviation fuel to the Afghan security forces in early 2019, this company imported 2.5 thousand tons of additional aircraft fuel to Afghanistan without tax.

The ministry has said that it is estimated that the Rahmanis’ “fraudulent use” of the tax exemption letter stole millions of dollars in tax revenue from the Afghan government.

Fuel Theft
The US Department of Treasury has said that the Rahmanis strengthened their corrupt profits by not complying with the fuel contracts of their companies.
The ministry said that one of Rahmani’s fuel companies named “Secure Movement Logistics” bribed Afghan National Army personnel to hide their non-delivery of fuel.

The ministry He added that they did not deliver at least 11 million liters to the Afghan National Army forces in less than a year.

Parliamentary corruption
The US Treasury Department said that Ajmal Rahmani gave gifts and money to potential voters before the 2018 Afghan parliamentary elections.

This The ministry added that he also promised to pay them more rewards if they win.

According to the announcement of the ministry, Ajmal Rahmani to ensure his election to the parliament. Afghanistan paid one million and 600 thousand dollars to a number of members of the Independent Election Commission of Afghanistan to increase the election results by thousands of votes.

The ministry also said that Mir Rahman Rahmani gave millions of dollars to several parliamentarians during the elections for the chairmanship of the House of Representatives of Afghanistan in order to get their votes for the seat of the chairmanship.

The US Treasury Department also said It is that people like the Rahmanis acquire the citizenship of other countries through investment and in this way facilitate their illegal cross-border activities. /strong>
The US Treasury Department said that while the main corruption committed by the Rahmanis took place in Afghanistan, they continue to maintain a network of international companies.

This ministry has said that it has identified 41 entities that are owned or controlled by Ajmal Rahmani and are working on behalf of or for him directly or indirectly.

According to the announcement of the US Treasury Department, these companies include 21 German companies, eight Cypriot companies, six UAE companies, two Afghan companies, one Dutch company and one Bulgarian company, and several other German and Dutch companies.
The US Treasury Department has conducted this investigation into the financial corruption of the Rahmanis in cooperation with the US Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

Consequences of sanctions

The US Department of Treasury has said that as a result of imposing sanctions on the Rahmanis, all their properties and interests in their properties that are in the US or in the possession and control of people in the US have been frozen and should be reported to the Assets Control Office. The foreigner of this ministry should be reported.

The ministry added that, in addition, any institution that directly or indirectly, individually or collectively, 50% or more belongs to one or more If he is a sanctioned person, it will also be blocked.

The US Treasury Department has also prohibited any transactions involving the interests of sanctioned persons.

This ministry has also warned that financial institutions and other persons who participate in the transactions or activities of sanctioned persons may themselves be subject to sanctions or executive measures.

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